Merry Christmas!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a quiet Christmas Eve at our house. We had 9 people for dinner and served an Italian fare. We had a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and sang to Jesus. We talked with the kids about the true meaning of Christmas and then it was time to get the cookies and milk out for Santa. Wendy helped Matthew write a letter to Santa. He asked for Woody from Toy story and all sorts of other toys. The kids got to bed at a decent time and we got to bed ourselves, knowing we had a busy day ahead of us.
Christmas we awoke to Matthew ready to see what Santa left him. We opened our stockings at our house which Matthew did get his Woody from Toy Story. We then went down to Wendy's mom's house. We had 14 people there. Tom's parents and brother were there. Wendy's parents, grandparents, her sister and her niece Ellie were all there. It was a little crazy. We got through the presents with relative ease. We had a fun day playing with all the toys we received. Having kids is so much fun we can play with all their toys. Ellie and Matthew both got roller skates so they were working on that. Victoria got a baby doll and wouldn't put it down.
Amy's new boyfriend joined us for dinner so we had 15 for dinner. We love it coming both from a small family. For all of you who were there thank you for making our Christmas special. Have a wonderful New Year to all of you. We will write soon.

The Johnson Family

Monterey/Carmel

The Johnson side of our clan decided to go up to Monterey and Carmel for a couple of days. We are showing Tim(Tom's Brother) California. The kids were great on the car ride and we got up there Tuesday afternoon with time to explore Carmel. We walked around the town a little bit and then went to the beach. We had so much fun exploring the beach. The kids(with our help) climbed a tree. Matthew, Tom, Mr. J and Tim went up and found a couple balls from Pebble Beach. They also climbed up and stood on Pebble Beach Golf Course. Meanwhile Victoria and I looked at every single little rock. I think we went about two inches in about half an hour, there were so many rocks to look at(maybe we have a future geologist in the family:)).
We were all tired so we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. Well, the kids did not do well sleeping in one room with us. So we were up from 2:30 on. We decided to do the aquarium and head home. So with a lot of coffee/caffeine we headed to the aquarium.
The aquarium was so much fun. We had a blast. Victoria kept saying fishy. Everywhere we looked there were fishys. Matthew and I looked at the Jellyfish which we both loved. I think Matthew and Victoria loved the penguins the most. They were really cute. We had lunch there and saw sea otters and seals playing in the ocean. Oh I love it up there. Alas the kids, Tom and I were tired so we headed out for home. Tom's parents and Tim decided to still stay another night. We arrived home safely with little fuss from the kids and have now gotten a great nights sleep. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Wendy

Christmas Time is here!!

Hey everyone, Christmas season for the Johnson Family has begun. Matthew, Tom and I set up the tree yesterday. We had so much fun. What a joy to have children in the house and experience the magic of Christmas through their eyes. Matthew understands it completely this year and he loves it. He does understand that this is Jesus's birthday and not Santa's this year.:) Victoria squealed with glee over the Christmas tree and loves dancing with our dancing Santa. Just thought you might enjoy some pictures.


Wendy

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Tom and I hosted Thanksgiving this year. We teamed up and cooked a great meal together. Tom did his famous orange sweet potatoes and I did a cornbread stuffing. I don't think our families have decided on a favorite stuffing recipe. So feel free to send suggestions if anyone has one.:) My parents and Tom's parents were both there and my sister Amy joined us as well. We wanted to stop and thank all of you who are in our life mean so much to us. Thank you all of my family and friends. We love you all. Hope you enjoy your weekend. Here are some photos. You can see we had some fun.

I will tell you who is in the photos since all of you might not know. The first one is Tom and Mom looking up black friday sales. We did pretty darn good. You will have to wait til Christmas to see what we got. :) Mr. J/Tom's Dad is in the fore ground. The next is of my sister and Matthew playing together. The last is of my Dad/Papa with Victoria. Hope you enjoy.

Love,

The Johnson Family

Bridgeport

Hi everyone, its beautiful and 74 degrees here. Sorry east coasters but it is beautiful:). Matthew, Victoria, and I went to the park and enjoyed some time looking at the ducks and walking around the lake. Thought I would share some adorable pictures I captured. Hope you enjoy.

Matthew's Birthday

We finally celebrated Matthew's birthday on the 30th. My sister Amy brought a beautiful dinosaur cake that set off the mood. We had so much fun. Matthew got a big boy bike with training wheels that he loves. he also got a few trucks which he plays with all the time. We had so much fun and now my big boy is 3 years old

HALLOWEEN

Halloween was a lot of fun for the kids. Matthew was a fireman and Victoria was a Princess. We went with the Matthew across the street and some other little kids in the neighborhood. The thing I think is amazing is that people don't open doors anymore they just leave candy on the doorstep and when its gone it is gone. Matthew completely got it this year and couldn't wait to get candy. Victoria was sick so we didn't dress her up on halloween because it was to cold. We went to a fall festival at my niece's school so we dressed her up there. Included is a picture of them on Halloween.